Cytogenetic changes in hepatocarcinomas from rats treated with chronic exposure to diethylnitrosamine.

Cytogenetic analysis of rat hepatocarcinomas obtained after diethylnitrosamine (DEN) exposure showed a wide variety of numerical and structural chromosomal changes: 53 of 86 hepatocellular carcinomas showed at least one recurrent chromosomal aberration. Some of these recurrent changes occurred in several tumors. Chromosomes 1, 3, 11, and 12 were abnormal in more than 30% of the carcinomas; chromosomes 2, 4, 5, and 10 were abnormal in 10%. Moreover, chromosomes 1 and 10 were generally lost or deleted and chromosome 3, 4, and 11 were very often gained. The most frequent anomaly was loss of chromosome 1 which was observed in 35% of the tetraploid cell populations. The occurrence in several tumors of recurrent chromosomal rearrangements as well as various repeated aneuploidies strongly suggests that these anomalies are implicated in the process of rat hepatocarcinogenesis induced by DEN treatment.